It’s Wednesday, February 25. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Josh Code’s crash course in snow-cialism. When paradise becomes the front line in a drug war. Tina Brown on how the Epstein revelations are ripping through the British elite. And much more.
But first: Trump mixes patriotism and partisan trolls at the State of the Union.
We are said to be living in a time of dwindling attention spans. But State of the Union addresses are not getting any shorter. Donald Trump beat his own record for the longest State of the Union in American history last night. His address clocked in at 1 hour and 48 minutes. (Let’s hear it for Richard Nixon, who holds the record for the shortest State of the Union—a tight 28 minutes and 55 seconds in 1972.)
So what did Trump do with all that time? Well, quite a lot. He basked in the glory of the Olympic champions of the U.S. men’s hockey team, and even gave goalie Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He attacked what he called the Supreme Court’s “very unfortunate” ruling on tariffs—which he said he hoped would replace income tax. He heralded what he sees as the biggest achievements of his first year in office. He honored American military heroes young and old. He issued a warning to Iran. He goaded Democrats. And much else beyond all that.
But what did it all add up to? For an answer to that question, we turn to Eli Lake. He watched the speech so you didn’t have to. Read his analysis of Trump’s attempt to reset his second term:
And for those of you who weren’t tuned in last night, catch up on The Free Press’s State of the Union livestream, hosted by Will Rahn and Reihan Salam, and featuring analysis from Matt Taibbi, Elliott Abrams, Ruy Teixeira, Brianna Wu, Eliana Johnson, and others.
—Oliver Wiseman
The Nor’Easter News
This week’s blockbuster blizzard officially dumped nearly 20 inches of snow on New York City, the most in a decade. In response, Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a call for emergency snow shovelers, offering up to $30 an hour. The Free Press’s Josh Code signed up—only to discover how messy civic life can be. Read Josh’s account of his day clearing New York’s streets:
Are nor’easters like the one that hit Sunday and Monday a scientific anomaly, or are they getting more prevalent? Some have blamed climate change for more extreme weather. But what’s the truth? For that, we turn to Roger Pielke Jr. Read Roger’s explanation of the shaky science—and reality:
Monday’s arrest of Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the U.S., over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein, sent shock waves through Britain’s political establishment—not least because, as former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown puts it, “There is no one Mandelson hasn’t advised, conspired with, gossiped with, and texted.” The contrast with the other side of the Atlantic is stark, argues Tina. The arrests of Mandelson and the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, “have cut through the endless inconclusiveness of the Department of Justice morass on the U.S. side of the Atlantic.” Read Tina on the latest twist in the Epstein saga.
After the pandemic, the Mexican town of Puerto Vallarta was hailed as the expat American’s dream: a safe, clean, artsy place to escape for remote work or a beachy vacation. That illusion was shattered when Sunday’s killing of cartel leader El Mencho plunged the place into chaos. Tanner Nau and River Page spoke with Americans confronted by the nightmarish reality living beneath the dreamland they had enjoyed for years.
Taylor Fogarty used to be a self-described “degenerate” party girl in Brooklyn—drinking, doing drugs, drifting between identities, and eventually signing up for sugar-daddy websites because, as she tells it, “It just felt normal.” Today, she’s a sober Catholic mother who believes that everything she once embraced was built on a lie. What changed between her two lives, and what truth has she found on the other side? Fogarty tells Maya Sulkin all that and more in the latest episode of our Confessions series.
The U.S. men’s hockey team’s stunning triumph over Canada to capture the Olympic gold medal was a victory for the ages—and the first for the boys in red, white, and blue since the Miracle on Ice in 1980. But what did life look like for the other side? In her latest Canadian dispatch, Rupa Subramanya reports on what happens when your country falls short—and how our neighbors up north are trying to forge ahead.
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
THE NEWS
Flight tracking data and satellite images show that over 150 U.S. aircraft have been sent to bases in Europe and the Middle East, as President Trump continues to evaluate a potential military strike on Iran. The State Department also ordered all nonessential U.S. diplomats out of Lebanon, fueling further speculation of military conflict.
Today show host Savannah Guthrie announced that her family is offering a $1 million reward for the safe recovery of her mother, Nancy Guthrie. Despite disappearing more than three weeks ago, there seem to be no new leads on the 84-year-old Guthrie’s whereabouts.
Meta agreed to buy six gigawatts’ worth of artificial intelligence computing power from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Tuesday. The blockbuster deal was valued at over $100 billion and will help AMD compete with Nvidia in the sale of microchips to power the AI boom.
Texas congressman Tony Gonzales is facing pressure from fellow Republicans to resign over an alleged affair with a former staffer who later committed suicide. Gonzales is backed by Trump in his tight primary race and has denied having the affair.
The Trump administration is suing New Jersey after Governor Mikie Sherrill issued an executive order barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from state property. The lawsuit is the latest battle between states and the federal government over the limits of immigration enforcement.
Novo Nordisk announced that it plans to cut U.S. list prices for Ozempic and Wegovy by up to 50 percent. The cuts are set to begin in January, bringing each drug’s price down to $675 a month. (For more on the Ozempic takeover, read Suzy Weiss’s excellent essay.)
Shipping giant FedEx filed a lawsuit against the federal government to seek reimbursement for Trump’s tariff policy. The Supreme Court ruled the tariffs unconstitutional on Friday, and FedEx is the first major company to seek cash it spent on the tariffs.
Actor Robert Carradine died by suicide at the age of 71. Carradine was the youngest in a family of Hollywood giants and will be remembered for his iconic roles in productions such as Revenge of the Nerds and Lizzie McGuire. Carradine’s family said he lived with bipolar disorder for two decades.
If tariffs are "taxes that are passed down to the consumer" then why would a corporation sue to get that money back? I thought it only hurt the little guy? Could it be that they weren't passed down to the consumer because sometimes corporations would rather not admit that they're selling you cheap foreign slop instead of quality American made goods? Hmm.
TFP is in the news. “The “moral panic” frame activated precisely when the files stopped being useful against Trump and started being dangerous to the establishment’s own people. That’s not a principled stand for due process — it’s a cold, calculated, and probably super expensive psychological operation to change the subject.
In case anyone doubts this, here are the nine stories that I found, across nine different publications:’ https://coffeeandcovid.substack.com/p/elite-panic-wednesday-february-25?r=jf6p8&utm_medium=ios